The Bloomsburg University men's soccer team is slated to host No. 2 seed Gannon (West) in a PSAC Quarterfinals matchup on Friday at 2:30 PM. 

The Huskies are the No. 1 seed in the PSAC East and will host championship weekend at Steph Pettit Stadium on Bloomsburg's upper campus. Two semifinal games will be played Friday and the championship game will be played Sunday at 1:00 PM. The second semifinal game on Friday will be between No. 2 seed East Stroudsburg (East) and No. 1 Mercyhurst (West), and it will kick off at 5:30 PM.

The Game

The Huskies (13-4-1, 8-3-1 PSAC East) and Golden Knights (13-4-2, 6-2-2 PSAC West) both come into Friday's PSAC Semifinal game with 13 wins and four losses on the year. Additionally, Bloomsburg has tied once while Gannon recorded two ties this season. 

Bloomsburg and Gannon come into the semifinal contest as two of the top three scoring teams in the PSAC. The Golden Knights rank second in the conference with 60 goals on the year (3.2 goals per game) while the Huskies are third with 41 goals (2.3 goals per game). 

Defensively, both teams have nearly identical statistics. Bloomsburg has surrendered just 21 goals this year (1.17 goals against average) while Gannon has allowed 22 goals (1.16 goals against average). 

Season Of Success

Bloomsburg's 13 wins this season are tied for the second most in program history and the squad is one victory away from tying the program's single-season record of 14, which was set back in 2015.

The team's postseason appearance is the program's first since 2015 and comes a season after the club went 9-9 overall (5-7 PSAC East) in 2021. 

Eight of Bloomsburg's 13 wins this year came during an impressive eight-game win streak that saw the Huskies go undefeated from Sept. 21 to Oct. 19. 

Heroes Of Many

Despite having one of the best offenses in the league, Bloomsburg does not have a player ranked within the Top 8 of league leaders in goals. Instead, the Huskies offense has seen many heroes during the course of the season, and the team has received scores from 12 different players this year. Additionally, six different players have scored game winners. 

The team's leading scorer is Anthony Schlee, who has six goals and three assists. Sammy Ames also has six goals to go along with his two assists.

Four different players have four goals, including senior defender Stephen Hollis. Two of the other players are freshmen in Shay Gillen and Kody Besser, and the third is sophomore Patrick Walsh. Gillen and Hollis are leading the team in assists with five apiece. 

In net, sophomore goalkeeper Brady Rimple has started all 18 games for Bloomsburg and he ranks among league leaders in all major goalkeeping statistics. Rimple's .798 save percentage ranks second in the PSAC, and he also ranks fourth in goals against average (1.128 per game) and saves per game (4.39 per game). 

Scouting the Golden Knights

Offensively, Gannon is paced by the PSAC's leading scorer in Sergio Del Castillo. In 19 games this season, Del Castillo has recorded a league-high 22 goals (1.16 per game) and the senior averages 4.37 shots per game. Additionally, Del Castillo leads the league in game-winning goals with five. Junior forward Benjamin Querling is second on the team in goals and has scored six in just 13 games. 

In net, Gannon has had two goalkeepers split time in Samuel Alarcon and David Synstelien. Alacron has allowed 12 goals in the 10 games that he has started (1.20 average), and he has picked up 25 saves. Synstelien had allowed 10 goals in nine starts (1.14 average) and has a total of 26 saves. 

Survive And Advance

In the single-elimination playoff format, the loser of Friday's contest will be eliminated from the postseason while the winner will advance to the championship game on Sunday. The winner will play either Mercyhurst or East Stroudsburg.